Lemon, Lime and a dash of Salt
by BeauteousCupcake
Summary: A witch, a hunter and a vampire take a trip to Europe, and with hopes for the three to deal with the horrors of what had occurred on the day of the wedding - the three begin to bond and connect. After all, grief and the fear of death can even make the strongest of souls need company. Damon/Bonnie, Alaric/Bonnie, Damon/Bonnie/Ric


Lemon, Lime and a dash of Salt.

When Damon had come to me with the look of a lost man and sat on the edge of my bed in Whitmore to ask me to come away to Europe I thought that he was officially losing the final grasp of control he had on his mind.

Europe with Damon wouldn't be the cultural experience I had wanted to have at the end of my college life if money had suddenly grown on trees and enabled me to afford the tickets across the Atlantic, but despite the many reservations and doubts in my mind, my politely formed thanks but no thanks that hovered on my tongue? I said yes.

" _Ric is coming too, I mean – it's been a year and this place is suffocating us and I thought it might do us some good to get the history teacher looking at some history."_

Damon who smelt of every liquor known to mankind, and several I was wondering where concocted whilst totally inebriated in the wine cellar of the Boarding House, was talking about history as if actually interested but I got it. How could I not? Nodding slowly as he rambled on, my hand catching his to guide the shaking man to my side, I thought of why we were here, what had brought three broken misfits together to be contemplating the European road trip that wouldn't involved history and laughter in the way it should.

Elena lay in the Salvatore crypt in her eternal sleep, and would do until I died, and then there was Jo and the twins, buried in the graveyard together because of Kai and his egotistical need for control and to prevent the merger of the twins to take away his control... so much bloodshed and loss and where had it got him? Nowhere thanks to Damon's removal of his head. Nothing felt right without them and it was as if we had all frozen in time for so long, going through the motions to just survive and escape the heretics unleashed by Lily.

Another reason for the witch to skip town for a while really now I thought of it. I mean six heretics on the loose who were motivated by their hunger and the freedom they now had wasn't something I could go against alone – or have Damon involved in when sobriety wasn't something he had been recently acquainted with.

" _You do realize we've got a lot on here don't you and that's not going to change even if we go running off on a history tour that I place money on will become nothing but an excuse to try out every country's beer and for us to drown our sorrows. I mean, do you really feel happy leaving Stefan with Lily? Or entrusting the safety of..."_

She was my best friend, but I couldn't say her name, what did that make me?

Losing Elena had left a hole in all of us and it was during the following months as I spent half my week at the Boarding House trying to find a way to break Kai's spell that I got to truly see how bereft both Salvatore brothers were. There was a void in them both, a darkness that been reawakened in the wake of saying goodbye to her and I couldn't shake off the guilt that Damon hadn't let me die among the carnage of the wedding party. If I had died – she would be here and they would be both human, starting their lives together doing normal things perhaps. A deep sigh escaped and as I went to burrow my face in my hands to pretend this was just a dream once more, I heard the softest creak of leather moving and was pulled into the side of the vampire who needed the comfort and support as much as I did.

" _Elena?_

 _Bonnie you know you put enough spells on that door to stop anything getting in there, and that's before the cloaking spell went on the coffin itself, I know for a fact she'll be fine in there for however long we're away. Stop the guilt before I institute a new nickname of you. I think you have enough don't you Bon-Bon?"_

Nodding slowly against the leather and cotton of his shirt, I wiped my eyes as I did most days when thoughts became too heavy to stop falling on me and mumbled 'Yes.'

 _Yes to too many nicknames, and yes to going anywhere but here with two people who needed distance as much as I did. Yes to just a chance to be someone who wasn't Bonnie Bennett, witch and survivor of Hell. I could be selfish again for a little bit surely?_

The heat of the sun beat down on my skin as I stepped out from the hotel, where we now? Spain I think yes, Barcelona was the new destination so we could go see the Picasso exhibitions and apparently drink an inordinate amount of Sangria and Ric's new favorite drink, Tequila. There were times mainly the morning after another party or time spent in an overly expensive bar that I wanted to tell them both I was going home, and yet, I never did. I had become the side-kick to team Bad-ass whether I liked it or not and when t came to liquor that made my throat burn, I really didn't like it. Which of course was why I was agreeing once more to go to a party Damon had gotten us all invited too by flashing those signature baby blues at a group of giggling blondes who were doing the whole 'travel for a year before reality kicks in' thing.

Another day, another smile in place that I knew never met my eyes until the buzz of the alcohol I never truly wanted at first hit. But I could do it for the man whose arm came to rest around my shoulders, the warmth of familiarity creeping through me like the blanket I needed to carry on. A flash of the wedding ring on his finger made me smile briefly, Alaric Saltzman, married in his heart but not in law to a woman whose infectious optimism had affected everyone. Sliding my fingers into his, I leant in and took the hug that was offered just by the close proximity and willed the calm to descend upon me. I couldn't help it, even in the city I had longed to visit? I was afraid of every shadow, saw Kai's face in every dark haired boy I saw – he was gone but never too far away when I tried to sleep, or even thought back. I couldn't escape, no one could from the nightmare of that summer's night.

Tyler was gone, Liv, Jo and the twins were dead. Elena held in her sleeping beauty spell.

Another continent, a beautiful sunny day being spent with two men who protected me and cared for me as well as each other and the atmosphere around me as I lay my head against a t-shirt clad Ric was as cold as ice. Even with that human touch of someone I trusted and cared for, I felt alone and I hated it. Hated that I was too afraid to just live a little more for myself and not stagnate because of the past, maybe that was why I never failed to reply to Jeremy when he emailed me, or listened for hours as he spoke of his sister when I knew he probably hated me for living...

" _Smile Bonnie, it's a new day and Damon's actually smiling for the first time in a month because apparently he was here in the 1900s and knows everything there is to know about Barcelona including the soccer team or should I say football to see what he does?"_

Laughing at the very idea of the vampire playing tour guide, I settled into the slow walk with Ric at my side and allowed my eyes to trail across to the nearest small bar offering coffee to the tired tourists whose children were excited for the new adventure awaiting them. No.. no... definitely no.. yes. There was Damon, clad in jeans and a rare change from the monochrome look of Varvatos 2015, the uncharacteristic blue shirt looked new though and judging by the jacket cast aside, someone had been visiting the stores as I slept.

Damon's idea to travel light had been literal and we'd left the US with nothing more than bank cards and passports – nothing else was allowed because we could buy it where we landed was his philosophy and my IOUs to his bank account were growing at every new location. That and the way things were going, I would need a new wardrobe and probably apartment to contain everything when we came home, because somewhere along the way I had become the Salvatore-Saltzman doll to be played with by the two them and changed from the girl I was who had stepped onto the first plane we took to France. But that would be then, this was now and I had to shake off the melancholy and just feel.

What was it Damon had said, life was for the living and the free and the three of us had that now even if we had had to tear it from the clutches of others.

Here in Europe we could just be tourists, exploring new things and experiencing even more.

So with a shake of my head to the sadness, I slid into the chair at Damon's right, Ric finally releasing his hold on my hand to sit at the left and I felt the calm once more.

A hunter, a vampire and a witch walk into a bar... sounded like the beginning of a joke and the very thought of it had me giggling and those sky blue eyes turning to look at me with a spark of something in them, something I had seen when trapped in 1994 with Damon. I saw hope and relief.

" _Well good morning to you Bon-Bon, that's got to be one of the best sounds I could hear from you – it's been too long witchy without it, care to share?"_

I had no answer for him, despite the uncontrollable giggles that could save me from him seeing me as insane and well, maybe I was because I was happier now I was with them both. With Damon and Ric, I could breathe because they knew me, they understood the need to embrace life and make it how I wanted it to be. Yes, Damon may spend ninety percent of the time inebriated and cursing everything that came his way, and Ric could give Stefan a run for his money when it came to brooding but they kept me sane and although I would have liked us not to be here under the circumstances we were in? I wouldn't change the newly formed dynamic we had together. I according to a drunk Damon one night as we passed out on his bed together had said I was the shred of light they both needed.

I never knew why... and never asked him.

After all Damon Salvatore wasn't known for opening up his feelings and showing the caring side of himself. Shame really because now that the anti-Damon veil had fallen from my eyes, I had come to truly respect Damon for the man he was, not the man he pretended to be. Yes, he was an asshole, but lets be honest? Most people can be at times – at least he owned it when he fucked up.

Brushing my hand through my hair, I played with the curls at the end of the ebony waves and leaned against the cool arm of the vampire. Pointedly ignoring the laugh that came from Ric at my small groan of contentment to be cooling a little in the shade I welcomed the glass of OJ and ice that was pushed in my direction. Somehow I knew today was going to be different to the rest, I couldn't shake the feeling that as the three of us relaxed under the Spanish sun, we hadn't truly escaped the horrors of Mystic Falls. The past present and future were too interwoven in the three of us for it to be fully gone. Maybe that's why the shadows always seemed so much darker even under the perfect sun, there were monsters hiding in them and they somehow were worse than Damon, or even the Mikaelsons come to think of it. But as always, the three of us could handle any and everything – it was what we did and we all knew it, there would be more laughter and more fun over sorrow from now on.

Team Bad-ass had a new recruit whether they liked it or not, because I needed to, wanted to... prove to myself more than anyone else that the scars on the outside weren't inside me still. Kai had nearly killed me, but I'd come back from death once before, and with the right people at my side? Such as these two men at my side, it was like the joke after all.

" _I want to head down to the beach, and I'm guessing I still need to have you both watching over me in case there's rogue witches in Barcelona? So I suggest, you both get drinking your coffees and come with – there's a tan with my name on it and a trashy novel I want to read. No arguments before they come, you've had everything you want so far Salvatore and you Ric! I want a break from touring bars and tourist attractions that take way too long to get into, play fair both of you."_

I knew I was pouting and really, it was crazy because both were older than me, Damon by a hundred and fifty years, but a girl had to stand up for herself.. Even against a vampire and a hunter who had been an Original vampire.

Funny though, both of them gave into me.

A day spent lying in the sun was exactly what I needed, and despite the protestations, both had clearly enjoyed themselves among the tourists and locals who'd made the most of their day under the sun. It was peaceful and we'd enjoyed ourselves messing around in the ocean.

There was a change in the air, I could feel it and I think so could they, through the ball games and me being lifted onto broad shoulders in our games? We had bonded further and we were happy. Walking back along the beachfront, my arms wrapped around both their waists, half asleep, I wondered what tomorrow would bring.. whether it be siestas, museums or drinking in a bar till daybreak?

I could handle it.


End file.
